William Powell

William Powell

Born: July 28, 1892
Died: March 5, 1984
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the Thin Man series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for The Thin Man (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Life with Father (1947). After high school, he left home for New York and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at the age of 18. In 1912, Powell graduated from the AADA, and worked in some vaudeville and stock companies. After several successful experiences on the Broadway stage, he began his Hollywood career in 1922, playing a small role as an evil henchman of Professor Moriarty in a production of Sherlock Holmes with John Barrymore. His most memorable role in silent movies was as a bitter film director opposite Emil Jannings' Academy Award-winning performance as a fallen general in The Last Command (1928). This success, along with Powell's pleasant speaking voice, led to his first starring role as amateur detective Philo Vance in the "talkie" The Canary Murder Case (1929). Powell's most famous role was that of Nick Charles in six Thin Man films, beginning with The Thin Man in 1934, based upon Dashiell Hammett's novel. The role provided a perfect opportunity for Powell, with his resonant speaking voice, to showcase his sophisticated charm and witty sense of humor, and he received his first Academy Award nomination for The Thin Man. Myrna Loy played his wife, Nora, in each of the Thin Man films. Their on-screen partnership, beginning alongside Clark Gable in 1934 with Manhattan Melodrama, was one of Hollywood's most prolific, and they appeared in 14 films together. Loy and Powell starred in the Best Picture of 1936, The Great Ziegfeld, with Powell in the title role and Loy as Ziegfeld's wife Billie Burke. That same year, he also received his second Academy Award nomination, for the comedy My Man Godfrey. In 1935, he starred with Jean Harlow in Reckless. A serious romance developed between them, and in 1936, they were reunited on screen and with Loy and Spencer Tracy in the screwball comedy Libeled Lady. However, Harlow surprisingly and quickly became ill, and died from uremia at the age of 26 in June 1937 before they could marry. His distress over her death, as well as a cancer diagnosis of his own, caused him to accept fewer acting roles. Powell's career slowed considerably in the 1940s, although he received his third Academy Award nomination in 1947 for his role as the cantankerous Clarence Day, Sr., in Life with Father. His last film was 1955's Mister Roberts. Powell died in Palm Springs, California, on March 5, 1984, at the age of 91 from heart failure, nearly 30 years after his retirement. He is buried at the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California, near his third wife Diana Lewis, and his only child, his son William David Powell.

Movies for William Powell...

Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Title: Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Character: Self - Actor (archive footage)
Released: June 14, 2017
Type: Movie
The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.
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William Powell: A True Gentleman
Title: William Powell: A True Gentleman
Released: August 2, 2005
Type: Movie
A short documentary about William Powell.
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Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
Title: Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 6, 1993
Type: Movie
Actress Sharon Stone hosts this documentary about the life and career of 1930s sex symbol Jean Harlow. Included are clips from many of her films, photos and stories about her life before she became a movie star, and accounts of her troubled personal life, including a domineering mother, the failure of her three marriages and the suicide of her second husband.
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Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Title: Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Character: (archive footage)
Released: June 4, 1990
Type: Movie
This tribute to Myrna Loy is organized chronologically with a few photographs, many film clips, a handful of personal appearances, and a detailed commentary delivered on camera by Kathleen Turner. Turner walks us through Loy's career as a dancer and an actress miscast as an exotic. She comes into her own as a grown-up women: shrewd, funny, decorous, and sexy - in "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Thin Man." Her volunteer work during World War II, later stage work, and progressive politics come in for admiration as well. It's her style - seen best in her roles as a wife of charm and independence - that's captured and celebrated here.
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James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Title: James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 22, 1988
Type: Movie
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.
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The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Title: The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 9, 1986
Type: Movie
In this tribute to her frequent co-star and longtime love, Katharine Hepburn hosts a behind-the-scenes look at Spencer Tracy's personal and professional life that features intimate personal accounts, interviews and clips from his most acclaimed work on the silver screen.
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Going Hollywood: The '30s
Title: Going Hollywood: The '30s
Character: (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1984
Type: Movie
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually getting ready for another World War.
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Title: Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: February 25, 1983
Type: Movie
Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.
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That's Entertainment, Part II
Title: That's Entertainment, Part II
Character: (archive footage)
Released: May 16, 1976
Type: Movie
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
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It's Showtime
Title: It's Showtime
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 31, 1976
Type: Movie
A collection of film clips profiling animal actors.
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Title: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 6, 1975
Type: Movie
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
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The Big Parade of Comedy
Title: The Big Parade of Comedy
Character: Nick Charles (archive footage)
Released: September 2, 1964
Type: Movie
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
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Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Title: Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Character: Jim Wade (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: December 31, 1961
Type: Movie
Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in the 30s and 40s.
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Mister Roberts
Title: Mister Roberts
Character: Doc
Released: July 10, 1955
Type: Movie
Mr. Roberts is as an officer who's yearning for battle but is stuck in the backwaters of World War II on a non-commissioned Navy ship run by the bullying Captain Morton.
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How to Marry a Millionaire
Title: How to Marry a Millionaire
Character: J.D. Hanley
Released: October 29, 1953
Type: Movie
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.
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The Girl Who Had Everything
Title: The Girl Who Had Everything
Character: Steve Latimer
Released: March 27, 1953
Type: Movie
Attorney's daughter falls for one of his gangster clients.
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The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Title: The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Character: Homer 'Doc' Brown
Released: March 1, 1952
Type: Movie
Young David, orphaned en route to California, falls into the hands of medicine-show rascal Baltimore Dan. Years later, now a trained thief, he's adopted by eccentric 'Doc' Brown, retired miner and pharmacist. Doc and David become fast friends in their scenic outdoor rambles. But when they discover a hidden treasure, the idyllic interlude gives way to more troubles and a strange coincidence.
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It's a Big Country
Title: It's a Big Country
Character: Professor
Released: November 20, 1951
Type: Movie
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas.
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Dancing in the Dark
Title: Dancing in the Dark
Character: Emery Slade
Released: December 2, 1949
Type: Movie
Emery Slade was one of the brightest stars in Hollywood in 1932, but by 1949 his career has hit the skids. Fortunately, he is able to convince studio head Melville Crossman to cast him in the adaptation of a hit Broadway show. Crossman has one condition: Slade must travel to New York and convince the female star of the stage production to join the film. Slade goes, but, when he eyes the winsome Julie Clarke, he hatches a different scheme.
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Take One False Step
Title: Take One False Step
Character: Andrew Gentling
Released: August 14, 1949
Type: Movie
Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.
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Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Title: Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Character: Mr. Peabody
Released: August 11, 1948
Type: Movie
As told to a psychiatrist: Mr. Peabody, a middle-aged Bostonian on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean, hears mysterious, wordless singing on an uninhabited rock in the bay. Fishing in the vicinity, he catches...a mermaid. He takes her home and, though she has no spoken language, falls in love with her. Of course, his wife won't believe that the thing in the bathtub is anything but a large fish.
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The Senator Was Indiscreet
Title: The Senator Was Indiscreet
Character: Senator Melvin G. Ashton
Released: December 31, 1947
Type: Movie
A bumbling, long-winded and crooked Southern senator, considered by some as a dark horse for the Presidency, panics his party when his tell-all diary is stolen.
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Life with Father
Title: Life with Father
Character: Clarence Day Sr.
Released: September 13, 1947
Type: Movie
A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
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Song of the Thin Man
Title: Song of the Thin Man
Character: Nick Charles
Released: August 28, 1947
Type: Movie
Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.
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The Hoodlum Saint
Title: The Hoodlum Saint
Character: Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
Released: April 4, 1946
Type: Movie
A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding attended by many of the city's rich and powerful, meets a beautiful girl named Kay who turns out to be his ticket to meeting those rich and powerful people, and he soon manages to land a job on a newspaper. He gets caught up in the "make money at all costs" game but receives a rude awakening when the stock market crashes in 1929.
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Ziegfeld Follies
Title: Ziegfeld Follies
Character: Flo Ziegfeld
Released: August 26, 1945
Type: Movie
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style.
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The Great Morgan
Title: The Great Morgan
Character: William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
Released: January 1, 1945
Type: Movie
Frank Morgan is hired to put together a movie using odds and ends from the MGM vaults. He does so by splicing together a string of completely unrelated short subjects and musical numbers, interspersed with a repeated loop of a scene from some melodrama. (Contains in their entirety the shorts, "Musical Masterpieces," "Our Old Car," and "Badminton," as well as clips from other projects)
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The Thin Man Goes Home
Title: The Thin Man Goes Home
Character: Nick Charles
Released: December 24, 1944
Type: Movie
On a trip to visit his parents, detective Nick Charles gets mixed up in a murder investigation.
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The Heavenly Body
Title: The Heavenly Body
Character: William S. Whitley
Released: March 23, 1944
Type: Movie
The beautiful wife of a tweedy astronomer becomes convinced that her astrologer's prediction of a new dream man in her life will come true.
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Twenty Years After
Title: Twenty Years After
Character: (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1944
Type: Movie
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
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The Youngest Profession
Title: The Youngest Profession
Character: William Powell
Released: February 26, 1943
Type: Movie
Joan Lyons and her friend Patricia Drew are autograph hounds spending most of their day bumping into, and having tea, with the likes of Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on misinformation from a meddling old-maid governess, Miss Featherstone, Joan also devotes some time to working on the no-problem marriage of her parents to the extent of hiring Dr. Hercules, the strong man from a side show to pay attention to her mother in order to make her father jealous, despite the good advice received from Walter Pidgeon.
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Crossroads
Title: Crossroads
Character: David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
Released: July 23, 1942
Type: Movie
A French diplomat who's recovered from amnesia is blackmailed over crimes he can't remember.
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Shadow of the Thin Man
Title: Shadow of the Thin Man
Character: Nick Charles
Released: November 21, 1941
Type: Movie
High society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles run into a variety of shady characters while investigating a race-track murder.
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Love Crazy
Title: Love Crazy
Character: Steve Ireland
Released: May 23, 1941
Type: Movie
Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorce and insanity.
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A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Title: A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Character: Self
Released: October 24, 1940
Type: Movie
This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.
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I Love You Again
Title: I Love You Again
Character: Larry Wilson aka George Carey
Released: August 9, 1940
Type: Movie
Boring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and loves his soon-to-be-ex wife.
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Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Title: Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Character: Self
Released: May 29, 1940
Type: Movie
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.
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Another Thin Man
Title: Another Thin Man
Character: Nick Charles
Released: November 17, 1939
Type: Movie
Not even the joys of parenthood can stop married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles from investigating a murder on a Long Island estate.
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From the Ends of the Earth
Title: From the Ends of the Earth
Character: Self
Released: May 28, 1939
Type: Movie
An MGM short showing how materials are shipped by boat 'From the Ends of the Earth' to Hollywood. Featuring footage from the MGM films being made at the time. Such as The Women, Thunder Afloat, Siren of the Tropics, Ninotchka, Northwest Passage, and At the Circus.
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The Baroness and the Butler
Title: The Baroness and the Butler
Character: Johann Porok
Released: February 18, 1938
Type: Movie
A Butler gets elected to the Hungarian parliament where he opposes his master's government.
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Double Wedding
Title: Double Wedding
Character: Charles Lodge
Released: October 15, 1937
Type: Movie
A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process.
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The Romance of Celluloid
Title: The Romance of Celluloid
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 27, 1937
Type: Movie
Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the movie going public has in going to the theater, are presented. They include: the production of celluloid aka film stock, the materials used in the production of which include cotton and silver; construction crews who build sets including those to look like cities, towns and villages around the world; a visit with Jack Dawn who demonstrates the process of creating a makeup design; the screen testing process, where many an acting hopeful gets his/her start; the work of the candid camera man, the prying eyes behind the movie camera; a visit with Adrian, who designs the clothes worn by many of the stars on screen; and a visit with Herbert Stothart as he conducts his musical score for Conquest (1937). These behind the scenes looks provide the opportunity to get acquainted with the cavalcade of MGM stars and their productions that will grace the silver screen in the 1937/38 movie season.
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The Emperor's Candlesticks
Title: The Emperor's Candlesticks
Character: Baron Stephan Wolensky
Released: July 2, 1937
Type: Movie
Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.
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The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Title: The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Character: Charles
Released: February 19, 1937
Type: Movie
A chic American jewel thief falls in love with one of her marks, an English lord.
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After the Thin Man
Title: After the Thin Man
Character: Nick Charles
Released: December 25, 1936
Type: Movie
Nick and Nora Charles investigate when Nora's cousin reports her disreputable husband is missing, and find themselves in a mystery involving the shady owners of a popular nightclub, a singer and her dark brother, the cousin's forsaken true love, and Nora's bombastic and controlling aunt.
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Libeled Lady
Title: Libeled Lady
Character: William 'Bill' Stephens Chandler
Released: October 9, 1936
Type: Movie
When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication's frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. Soon Haggerty's harried fiancée, Gladys Benton, and his dashing friend Bill Chandler are in on a scheme that aims to discredit Connie, with amusing and unexpected results.
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My Man Godfrey
Title: My Man Godfrey
Character: Godfrey
Released: September 2, 1936
Type: Movie
Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is more forgotten than Godfrey Park, who resides in a dump by the East River. Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia, who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.
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The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Title: The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Character: Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
Released: April 24, 1936
Type: Movie
A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a horse race track by his mystery writer ex-wife.
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The Great Ziegfeld
Title: The Great Ziegfeld
Character: Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
Released: April 8, 1936
Type: Movie
Lavish biography of Flo Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker.
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Rendezvous
Title: Rendezvous
Character: Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
Released: October 25, 1935
Type: Movie
A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.
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Escapade
Title: Escapade
Character: Fritz
Released: July 5, 1935
Type: Movie
A romantic comedy-drama-musical of mistaken identity, infidelity and farce, set in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century.
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Star of Midnight
Title: Star of Midnight
Character: Clay 'Dal' Dalzell
Released: April 19, 1935
Type: Movie
When a dancer disappears from a theater, Clay Dalzell is asked to investigate, leading him on a trail of murder and deception.
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Reckless
Title: Reckless
Character: Ned Riley
Released: April 19, 1935
Type: Movie
A theatrical star, born on the wrong side of the tracks, marries a drunken blue-blood millionaire.
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Evelyn Prentice
Title: Evelyn Prentice
Character: John Prentice
Released: November 9, 1934
Type: Movie
A criminal lawyer's wife is blackmailed when she is falsely accused of infidelity.
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The Key
Title: The Key
Character: Capt. Bill Tennant
Released: June 9, 1934
Type: Movie
A British officer stationed in Ireland falls for the wife of an intelligence man.
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The Thin Man
Title: The Thin Man
Character: Nick Charles
Released: May 25, 1934
Type: Movie
A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.
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Manhattan Melodrama
Title: Manhattan Melodrama
Character: Jim Wade
Released: May 4, 1934
Type: Movie
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
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Fashions of 1934
Title: Fashions of 1934
Character: Sherwood Nash
Released: February 14, 1934
Type: Movie
When the Manhattan investment firm of Sherwood Nash goes broke, he joins forces with his partner Snap and fashion designer Lynn Mason to provide discount shops with cheap copies of Paris couture dresses.
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The Kennel Murder Case
Title: The Kennel Murder Case
Character: Philo Vance
Released: October 28, 1933
Type: Movie
Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.
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Double Harness
Title: Double Harness
Character: John Fletcher
Released: July 21, 1933
Type: Movie
After tricking him into marriage, a woman tries to win the love of her philandering husband.
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Private Detective 62
Title: Private Detective 62
Character: Donald Free
Released: June 10, 1933
Type: Movie
A former government agent in France, who has failed at an assignment and been disavowed, is deported back to the USA, where he can only find work at a low-rent detective agency. He soon gets involved with a woman with ties to a crooked gambling club owner, who is a client of his agency.
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Lawyer Man
Title: Lawyer Man
Character: Anton Adam
Released: December 24, 1932
Type: Movie
Idealistic attorney Anton Adam makes headlines when he successfully prosecutes a prominent New York racketeer named Gilmurry. Adam's sudden renown attracts the attention of high-profile legal eagle Granville Bentley, who asks Adam to become a partner in his law firm. But Adam's rising career takes a nosedive when he's framed by Gilmurry and a sexy actress in a trumped-up breach of promise suit. The only constant in Adam's life is the loyalty and unrequited love of his secretary Olga.
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One Way Passage
Title: One Way Passage
Character: Dan Hardesty
Released: October 4, 1932
Type: Movie
A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.
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Jewel Robbery
Title: Jewel Robbery
Character: The Robber
Released: July 8, 1932
Type: Movie
A gentleman thief charms a Viennese baron's wife and also conducts a daring daylight robbery of a jeweller's shop.
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High Pressure
Title: High Pressure
Character: Gar Evans
Released: January 10, 1932
Type: Movie
Gar Evans is a con artist, who pretends to be the owner of a "Golden Gate Artificial Rubber Company", and he is looking for investors. Finding them is relatively easy, but it becomes difficult when those want to see the inventor of the synthetic rubber...
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The Road to Singapore
Title: The Road to Singapore
Character: Hugh Dawltry
Released: September 2, 1931
Type: Movie
A woman's life falls to pieces when she's caught cheating on her husband.
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Ladies' Man
Title: Ladies' Man
Character: Jamie Darricott
Released: April 16, 1931
Type: Movie
A society gigolo goes after a rich mother and her daughter, but tries to find true happiness with his girlfriend, who is neither rich nor in "society."
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Man of the World
Title: Man of the World
Character: Michael Trevor
Released: March 24, 1931
Type: Movie
A young American girl visits Paris accompanied by her fiancee and her wealthy uncle. There she meets and is romanced by a worldly novelist; what she doesn't know is that he is a blackmailer who is using her to get to her uncle.
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For the Defense
Title: For the Defense
Character: William Foster
Released: July 19, 1930
Type: Movie
William Foster is a slick attorney who stays within the law, but specializes in representing crooks and shady characters. He's adept at keeping them out of jail, winning acquittals, and having decisions reversed, thus springing criminals out of prison. He is romantically involved with dancer Irene Manners, who is two-timing him, although she wants to marry him. She kills a man driving while out with her other man, Jack Defoe, who takes the blame. Unfortunately, a ring Foster had just given Irene is found at the crime scene. Foster ends up defending Jack, but when the ring is found, he thinks he is protecting Irene, so pleads guilty to jury tampering.
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Shadow of the Law
Title: Shadow of the Law
Character: Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
Released: June 6, 1930
Type: Movie
John Nelson, a well-to-do businessman, is escorting a woman he knows as Ethel Barry to the door of her apartment suite when a man steps out of the shadows and angrily demands to know where she has been. The embarrassed Nelson excuses himself and goes to his rooms in the same hotel. The woman rushes into his apartment followed by the man who met her in the hall. The man threatens her with violence and Nelson comes to her defense. In the ensuing fight, the man is knocked out of the window and falls to his death to the pavement many stories down. He is charged with the killing and his only witness that can prove self-defense for him has disappeared, and can not be found.
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Paramount on Parade
Title: Paramount on Parade
Character: Philo Vance
Released: April 22, 1930
Type: Movie
This 1930 film, a collection of songs and sketches showcasing Paramount Studios' contract stars, credits 11 directors
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The Benson Murder Case
Title: The Benson Murder Case
Character: Philo Vance
Released: April 13, 1930
Type: Movie
A ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there; he decides to find out who killed him.
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Street of Chance
Title: Street of Chance
Character: John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
Released: February 8, 1930
Type: Movie
'Natural' Davis (William Powell) is a respected gambler who follows a ruthless code of honor with those who cheat against him. His wife, Alma (Kay Francis), wants to divorce him because of his addiction and lifestyle, but they agree on a reconciliation and second honeymoon together and 'Natural' promises to give up gambling. However, his plans change when his brother, 'Babe' (Regis Toomey), arrives in town looking to score big, and 'Natural' has to devise a plan quickly to put him off gambling forever.
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Behind the Make-Up
Title: Behind the Make-Up
Character: Gardoni
Released: January 18, 1930
Type: Movie
Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries.
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Pointed Heels
Title: Pointed Heels
Character: Robert Courtland
Released: December 20, 1929
Type: Movie
Fay Wray plays a beautiful showgirl who falls for a rich Park Avenue guy played by Phillips Holmes. William Powell is a producer in love with Miss Wray, but he won't use his influences to take any advantages.... as usual, he's a perfect gentleman. Pointed Heels was supposed to have been a vehicle for "boop-boop-a-doop" girl Helen Kane, but by the time the film was released, Kane's role was reduced to a supporting part.
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Charming Sinners
Title: Charming Sinners
Character: Karl Kraley
Released: August 17, 1929
Type: Movie
Charming Sinners was a stilted adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife. Robert Miles (Clive Brook) starts the ball rolling when he falls in love with Anne-Marie Whitley (Mary Nolan), the best friend of his own wife Kathryn (Ruth Chatterton). In retaliation, Kathryn begins a flirtation with her former boyfriend Karl Kraley (William Powell). After reels and reels of verbal fencing, the status quo is re-established, and Robert and Kathryn are reunited.
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The Greene Murder Case
Title: The Greene Murder Case
Character: Philo Vance
Released: August 11, 1929
Type: Movie
Philo Vance investigates when a murderer preys upon members of a wealthy family on New York's Upper East Side.
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The Four Feathers
Title: The Four Feathers
Character: Capt. William Trench
Released: June 1, 1929
Type: Movie
An Englishman (Richard Arlen) fights in the Sudan after receiving white feathers of cowardice from his fiancee (Fay Wray) and friends.
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The Canary Murder Case
Title: The Canary Murder Case
Character: Philo Vance
Released: February 16, 1929
Type: Movie
A beautiful showgirl, name "the Canary" is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and with that she ends up dead. But who killed "the Canary". All the suspects knew and were used by her and everyone had a motive to see her dead. The only witness to the crime has also been 'rubbed out'. Only one man, the keen, fascinating, debonair detective Philo Vance, would be able to figure out who is the killer. Written by Tony Fontana
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Interference
Title: Interference
Character: Philip Voaze
Released: November 4, 1928
Type: Movie
Paramount's first all-talking picture, Interference was dismally directed by Roy Pomeroy, whose lofty status as the studio's "technical wizard" did not necessarily qualify him to be a director. Evelyn Brent heads the cast as scheming Deborah Kane, who sets out to blackmail Faith Marley (Doris Kenyon), the above-reproach wife of Sir John Marlay.
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Forgotten Faces
Title: Forgotten Faces
Character: Froggy
Released: August 5, 1928
Type: Movie
A petty thief (Clive Brook) just robs the very rich at speakeasies, and gets away with it because the rich don't want the bad publicity, finally is caught and sent to Sing Sing. After good behavior, he gets an emergency permission for a return home, so that he may save his daughter from the hands of her disreputable mother (Baclanova). However, he must first promise not to kill his wife while he is out of prison.
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The Vanishing Pioneer
Title: The Vanishing Pioneer
Character: John Murdock
Released: June 23, 1928
Type: Movie
A western settlement of pioneer descendants is threatened with the loss of its water supply through the encroachments of nearby townspeople.
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The Drag Net
Title: The Drag Net
Character: Dapper Frank Trent
Released: May 1, 1928
Type: Movie
A 1928 silent film crime drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Josef von Sternberg from an original screen story and starring George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent.
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Partners in Crime
Title: Partners in Crime
Character: Smith
Released: March 1, 1928
Type: Movie
After being dismissed for imitating his boss's voice on radio, former Assistant District Attorney Richard Deming witnesses a store robbery and is taken captive by the criminals. Suspected of the crime, he is sought by the police, but his sweetheart, Marie, convinced of his innocence, enlists the help of two friends, a newspaper reporter and a half-witted detective. Hoping to win the girl's favor, the two go to the gangsters' hideout, encounter a violent gang war, and accidently set off a case of police tear bombs. The police, summoned by Marie, arrive just in time to save the kidnaped attorney.
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Feel My Pulse
Title: Feel My Pulse
Character: Her Nemesis
Released: February 26, 1928
Type: Movie
A rich but hypochondriac heiress inherits a sanitarium. What she doesn't know is that it is a front for bootleggers, and a hideout for criminals on the run from the law.
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Beau Sabreur
Title: Beau Sabreur
Character: Becque
Released: January 22, 1928
Type: Movie
The film is about a desert-bound member of the French Foreign Legion who exposes a betrayer to the Legion and is then sent on a mission among the Arabs to conclude the signing of a crucial peace treaty.
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The Last Command
Title: The Last Command
Character: Lev Andreyev
Released: January 21, 1928
Type: Movie
A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
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She's a Sheik
Title: She's a Sheik
Character: Kada
Released: November 12, 1927
Type: Movie
The daughter of a desert chief kidnaps a member of the French Foreign Legion in the hopes of wooing him.
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Nevada
Title: Nevada
Character: Clan Dillon
Released: August 1, 1927
Type: Movie
A once notorious gunfighter takes a respectable job on a ranch. "Nevada" is charged with protecting the ranch owner's pretty daughter, arousing the enmity of ranch foreman Clan Dillon, who is in love with the girl. The villainous foreman leaks a rumor of his rival's dark past to the sheriff, and the former outlaw is soon on the run again.
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Paid to Love
Title: Paid to Love
Character: Prince Eric
Released: July 23, 1927
Type: Movie
An American banker goes to a small Balkan country looking to invest his bank's money and shore up the country's weak economy in order to maximize the return on their investment. Towards that end he befriends the country's king and they come up with a scheme to get the Crown Prince married, a prospect not particularly appealing to the Crown Prince--until he sees the beautiful cabaret dancer the pair has picked for him to marry.
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Time to Love
Title: Time to Love
Character: Prince Alado
Released: June 18, 1927
Type: Movie
Alfred Sava-Goiu, who, after being dumped by his sweetheart, philosophically decides to end it all by jumping into the Seine. Instead, he lands in a passing boat owned by the Countess Elvire. Falling in love with his savior, Alfred returns the compliment by rescuing the Countess from a precipitous waterfall.
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Special Delivery
Title: Special Delivery
Character: Harold Jones
Released: May 6, 1927
Type: Movie
The second and last of Eddie Cantor's silent vehicles, Special Delivery casts the wide-eyed comedian as a hapless mailman. While going through his swiftly appointed rounds, Eddie stumbles upon a gang of crooks who are planning a large-scale confidence scam. He exposes the villains and wins the love of heroine Madge (Jobyna Ralston). Though Cantor was a fine physical comic, he didn't truly score in films until the arrival of talkies allowed his fans to hear as well as see him. Special Delivery was directed by "William Goodrich," who in reality was comedian Fatty Arbuckle, hoping to stage a comeback after the sex scandal that destroyed his career.
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Senorita
Title: Senorita
Character: Manuel Oliveros
Released: April 1, 1927
Type: Movie
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Love's Greatest Mistake
Title: Love's Greatest Mistake
Character: Don Kendall
Released: February 20, 1927
Type: Movie
Love's Greatest Mistake is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Evelyn Brent. The film is now lost.
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New York
Title: New York
Character: Trent Regan
Released: January 30, 1927
Type: Movie
A product of the Bowery, Trent Regan grows up to become a powerful gangster. Regan's girlfriend Angie Miller, hearing that her childhood sweetheart (and Regan's lifelong pal) Mike Cassidy is about to marry Marjorie Church, pays a visit to Mike to offer congratulations. Convinced that Angie is fooling around behind his back, Regan accidentally kills her.
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The Great Gatsby
Title: The Great Gatsby
Character: George Wilson
Released: November 21, 1926
Type: Movie
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
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Tin Gods
Title: Tin Gods
Character: Tony Santelli
Released: September 19, 1926
Type: Movie
Tin Gods is a lost 1926 silent film drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky, released by Paramount Pictures, and based on the play Tin Gods by William Anthony McGuire. Allan Dwan directed and Thomas Meighan starred.
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Beau Geste
Title: Beau Geste
Character: Boldini
Released: August 24, 1926
Type: Movie
Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs.
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Aloma of the South Seas
Title: Aloma of the South Seas
Character: Van Templeton
Released: May 15, 1926
Type: Movie
A young South Seas native boy is sent to the U.S. for his education. He returns to his island after his father dies to try to stop a revolution.
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The Runaway
Title: The Runaway
Character: Jack Harrison
Released: April 4, 1926
Type: Movie
A movie actress, mistakenly thinking she has killed a fellow actor, goes on the run and finds herself taken in by a Kentucky mountain family.
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Desert Gold
Title: Desert Gold
Character: Snake Landree
Released: March 22, 1926
Type: Movie
Desert Gold is a 1926 silent American Western film directed by George B. Seitz. According to silentera.com the film survives while Arne Andersen Lost Film Files has it as a lost film. Portions of the film were shot near Palm Springs, California.
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Sea Horses
Title: Sea Horses
Character: Lorenzo Salvia
Released: February 22, 1926
Type: Movie
Sea Horses is a 1926 American drama silent film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Becky Gardiner, James Shelley Hamilton and Francis Brett Young. The film stars Jack Holt, Florence Vidor, William Powell, George Bancroft, Mack Swain, Frank Campeau and Allan Simpson. The film was released on February 22, 1926, by Paramount Pictures. It is considered a lost film.
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White Mice
Title: White Mice
Character: Roddy Forrester
Released: January 31, 1926
Type: Movie
Roddy Forrester has formed the White Mice club with a pal. The purpose of the club is to help those in trouble. When Roddy's father sends him to the South American republic of Montebello, he gets his chance to be of service. General Rojas, the former president, is locked away in a prison and slowly dying. Roddy decides to rescue him, especially since he has been inspired by the general's pretty daughter, Inez.
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The Beautiful City
Title: The Beautiful City
Character: Nick Di Silva
Released: October 25, 1925
Type: Movie
For their mother's sake, a man takes the blame for a robbery committed by his brother and his brother's gangster boss.
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My Lady's Lips
Title: My Lady's Lips
Character: Scott Seldon
Released: July 1, 1925
Type: Movie
A newspaper publisher finds out that his wild daughter has fallen in with a ring of gamblers. A reporter who has infiltrated the gang to get a story falls in love with the gang's female leader, and when the two are caught in a police raid, they find themselves in equal amounts of trouble.
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Faint Perfume
Title: Faint Perfume
Character: Barnaby Powers
Released: June 8, 1925
Type: Movie
After a stormy six year marriage, Barnaby Powers divorces his wife Richmiel. She returns home, taking their young son Oliver with her. Barnaby follows her, to ask for custody of the boy, but meets and falls in love with Richmiel's pretty and sensitive cousin Ledda. Complications ensue.
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Too Many Kisses
Title: Too Many Kisses
Character: Don Julio
Released: January 11, 1925
Type: Movie
Wanting his son to get away from his many girlfriends and buckle down to work, the New York industrialist father of a playboy sends him to an obscure village in Spain to find samples of a rare mineral. When the son gets to Spain, he runs afoul of the local police chief - who has a secret that he tries to keep the young man from discovering.
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Romola
Title: Romola
Character: Tito Melema
Released: December 6, 1924
Type: Movie
In Renaissance Florence, a Florentine trader meets a shipwrecked stranger, who introduces himself as Tito Melema, a young Italianate-Greek scholar. Tito becomes acquainted with several other Florentines, including Nello the barber and a young girl named Tessa. He is also introduced to a blind scholar named Bardo de' Bardi, and his daughter Romola. As Tito becomes settled in Florence, assisting Bardo with classical studies, he falls in love with Romola.
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Dangerous Money
Title: Dangerous Money
Character: Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
Released: October 13, 1924
Type: Movie
Boardinghouse servant Adele Clark is unexpectedly awarded the ownership of a certain piece of New York City property known as Clark's Field. The trustees send her to a finishing school, whose headmistress, Signorina Vitale, persuades Adele and her sweetheart, Tim Sullivan, that she should travel in Europe. Adele's new riches cause her to lose her sense of proportion, and she soon is involved with a fast set indulging in the jazz life. Even Tim cannot curb Adele's extravagance, and he returns to America while Adele marries Italian fortune-hunter Prince Arnolfo Da Pescia. When a will is discovered naming Tim as the rightful heir to Clark's Field, Adele and Arnolfo hurry to New York, and Arnolfo tries to steal the will, then dies in a hotel fire.
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Under the Red Robe
Title: Under the Red Robe
Character: Duke of Orleans
Released: November 12, 1923
Type: Movie
A young man is tasked by the powerful Cardinal Richelieu to capture one of the cardinal's enemies but falls in love with his target's sister. The film marks the last motion picture appearance by stage actor Robert B. Mantell who plays Cardinal Richelieu and the only silent screen performance of opera singer John Charles Thomas.
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The Bright Shawl
Title: The Bright Shawl
Character: Gaspar De Vaca
Released: April 22, 1923
Type: Movie
Charles Abbott is implicated in the death of his friend Escobar, brother to the woman he loves.
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Outcast
Title: Outcast
Character: DeValle
Released: December 7, 1922
Type: Movie
A down-on-her luck streetwalker is ultimately redeemed by the love of a decent man.
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When Knighthood Was in Flower
Title: When Knighthood Was in Flower
Character: Francis I
Released: September 15, 1922
Type: Movie
Mary Tudor falls in love with a new arrival to court, Charles Brandon. She convinces her brother King Henry VIII to make him his Captain of the Guard. Meanwhile, Henry is determined to marry her off to the aging King Louis XII of France as part of a peace agreement.
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Sherlock Holmes
Title: Sherlock Holmes
Character: Forman Wells
Released: March 7, 1922
Type: Movie
Sherlock Holmes is a master at solving the most impenetrable mysteries, but he has his work cut out for him on his latest case. As the famed detective investigates an alleged theft, he’s brought face to face with his most devious adversary yet — Professor Moriarty.